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Speakers

Dr. Kevin Boyle (Ph.D., University of Michigan) is the William Smith Mason Professor of American History at Northwestern University. He has received grants and fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Fulbright Foundation, the American Council of Learned Societies, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the John Simon Guggenheim Foundation.

Dr. Boyle’s interest in modern American social movements is reflected in his numerous publications. His books include The UAW and the Heyday of American Liberalism, 1945 – 1968 (1995), Muddy Boots and Ragged Aprons: Images of Working Class Detroit, 1900 – 1930 (1997, co-authored with Victoria Getis), Organized Labor and American Politics, 1894 – 1994: The Labor-Liberal Alliance (1998), and Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age (2004). His scholarly articles have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies. Dr. Boyle has also published essays and reviews in The Chicago Tribune, The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Detroit Free Press, Inc. and Cobblestone magazines, and many other periodicals.

Dr. Boyle’s book Arc of Justice: A Saga of Race, Civil Rights, and Murder in the Jazz Age (2005) about the KKK persecution and subsequent trial of African American doctor Ossian Sweet in Detroit during the 1920s explores a forgotten story about the struggle for civil and human rights in America during the Great Depression. The book won the National Book Award for non-fiction, the Chicago Tribune Heartland Prize, the Simon Wiesenthal Center's Tolerance Book Award, and the Society of Midland Authors Book Award. It was also a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award and named the State of Michigan notable book for 2005.

Dr. Boyle’s presentation will explore the intersection of human and civil rights historically, incorporating his work on the Ossian Sweet trial in Detroit into his presentation.

This presentation is funded in part by Michigan Humanities Council, an affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.

Combating the Child Sex Tourism Trade in The Gambia: How Can Using Art Make a Positive Difference?

Child Sex Tourism is defined as the commercial sexual exploitation of children by men or women who travel from one place to another, usually from a richer country to one that is less developed, and there engage in sexual acts with children, defined as anyone aged under 18. (Source: ECPAT International)

Child Sex Tourism (CST) commonly takes place in Latin America, South East Asia, and certain countries in Africa which have a high rate of tourism. The ongoing trade in child sex tourism has led to the establishment of protection agencies, such as ECPAT, with the support and collaboration in countries that perceive and want to eradicate this growing problem. Global efforts continue to be made across countries and agencies to protect the human rights of children involved in this trade.

The focus of this presentation will be on the child sex tourism trade in The Gambia: how authorities have and continue to deal with the issue; what lessons have been learned as well as what achievements and undertakings still to be accomplished; and how one of Ms. George’s projects—building an arts institution in The Gambia—addresses and helps combat the problem.

Ms. Kadija George is the founder/publisher of SABLE LitMag, and SABLE LitFest. As a literary activist whose motto is “Art is the HeArt of a Nation,” Ms. George works in the belief that all projects she nurtures under SABLE Creative Enterprise should make a positive difference in and contribute to all facets of people’s lives, from basic education to economic wealth, mental health to human rights.

Ms. George established Inscribe at Peepal Tree Press as a professional development program to nurture and publish writers of African and Asian descent and is now the series editor for their Inscribe imprint, whose first anthology is Red: Contemporary Black British Poetry (2010). She has also organized large scale literary events, including “FWords: the creative project to commemorate the Parliamentary Act of 1807 to abolish the British Slave Trade” for ACE Yorkshire and the Creative Case “Black British Perspective Conversations.” She is the General Secretary of African Writers Abroad (PEN) Centre and a Fellow of the Kennedy Arts Centre for Performance Arts Management.

In her work as an activist, Ms. George focuses attention on how to use the arts to support social cohesion, economic development and education. She is currently developing a program for young people to use the arts to 'break the silence/taboo' on sexual abuse.

Featured Film

Banaz: A Love Story, by Fuse films

Banaz: A Love Story addresses the phenomenon of honour killings within immigrant communities in Europe through the story of a young British Kurdish woman who was murdered by her family in London in 2006.